A Critic’s Review Of The Young and the Restless: Tucker Trouble & The Long Story

When it comes to The Young and the Restless, every fan has their own opinion – and Soap Hub is no different. For five days, we sat and watched the good, the bad, and everything in between, and now we offer you a handy review, and a cheeky critique, of Y&R’s week that was.

The Young and the Restless: A Critic’s Week In Review

Monday and Tuesday’s episodes proved that Young and the Restless’ honcho Josh Griffith anticipated the (deserved) backlash springing from the rewrite of Tucker McCall’s (Trevor St. John) and Audra Charles’s (Zuleyka Silver) backstory — there was Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson) expressing surprise that Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) was so livid with Tucker in light of the fact that they’d parted on good terms, and Audra explaining to Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) that she was/is an artist just like Noah Newman (Rory Gibson), but it’s her business savvy that pays the bill — so it bears pondering why didn’t they just do right by the characters in the first place?

The populace could still have been wary of Tucker for a variety of reasons without treating him like some supervillain who’d returned to finish wreaking his peculiar brand of havoc; the Newmans, for example, are never going to trust the man who tried to get his mitts on Newman Enterprises and Nicholas Newman (Joshua Morrow) should still be a bit steamed over how Tucker led Sharon Rosales (Sharon Case) so astray. And any way you slice it, Tucker and Devon Hamilton (Bryton James) are estranged, and Abby Multiple Last Names (Melissa Ordway) has always been a detractor of Tucker’s, so right there is natural, built-in drama — rather than the manufactured kind — that could and should be exploited.

Granted Audra’s case is mightily different. Months prior, when the character was first mentioned, Griffith had no idea that he’d be bringing her onto the canvas and would be forced to explain away/expound upon the previous description of her.

This is the consequence of not writing the long story and instead projecting only two or three weeks in advance.

Further Y&R Musings

* Crazy Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan) is the best Chelsea Lawson, so here’s hoping that Young and the Restless will soon tip her over into full-blown mania and let her run amuck. As it stands now, the story seems focused more on a woman who’s her own worst enemy heaping loads of unnecessary pain onto herself and then being repeatedly dumped on by those she’s hurt — and that’s a much less fun story.

* Moral indignation doesn’t look good on Elena Dawson (Brytni Sarpy). Where was her virtue and sense of honor when she was pitting cousin against cousin just so she could get her sexual needs fulfilled?

The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

The best place for true soap fans to be is our Facebook groups. Have you joined? If you love soap spoilers, gossip, and fans as dedicated as yourself, check out Days of our Lives Fans, General Hospital Exclusive, The Young and the Restless Fans, and The Bold and the Beautiful Fans.